“I think John Connolly was in the mix, he also would have been (great).

“I think it’s a very sound decision to get Mike O’Connor there.”

It’s a big year for Rugby Australia and the Wallabies with the World Cup on the horizons after a disastrous 2018 – which yielded just four wins from 13 Test matches and saw the Aussies finish the year in sixth on the world rankings.